Experimental Study of Thermal Performance of Different Fruit Packaging Box Designs

Fábio Leitão, Pedro D. Silva, Pedro D. Gaspar, Luís C. Pires and Diana Duarte
Additional contact information
Fábio Leitão: Department of Electromechanical Engineering, University of Beira Interior, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal
Pedro D. Silva: Department of Electromechanical Engineering, University of Beira Interior, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal
Pedro D. Gaspar: Department of Electromechanical Engineering, University of Beira Interior, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal
Luís C. Pires: Department of Electromechanical Engineering, University of Beira Interior, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal
Diana Duarte: ITJ Moldes, Embra, P.O. BOX 198, 2431-966 Marinha Grande, Portugal

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 12, 1-13

Abstract: Packaging was recently identified as an essential element in addressing the key challenge of sustainable food supply and is gaining interest among researchers. It is a central element in food quality preservation due to its role in heat and mass exchange with the external atmosphere, contributing to the preservation of food quality during storage and extending food shelf life. This work proposes three new packaging configurations with the same size but different geometry and ventilation hole sizes and geometry, that change the conditions in which the heat and mass exchange occurs, during either the cooling period of fruits, inside the cooling chamber, or during the period when the packaging is exposed to ambient conditions, outside the cooling chamber. For this purpose, packages with fruit models that replicate the properties of real fruit were subjected to a cooling process inside a cooling chamber for 8 h. Subsequently, during the heating phase, the packages were exposed to ambient conditions for 10 h. Thermal conditions were also monitored, both inside and outside the chamber. Additionally, for comparative purposes, the thermal behavior of commercial packaging was also evaluated for the same operating conditions in the cooling and heating phases. The results show that the new packages do not substantially promote the preservation of fruits in the cooling phase, but in the heating phase, they ensure an extension of the period with proper thermal conditions of up to 50% in relation to the conventional packaging. This result is particularly important since the heating phase, in which fruits are outside the storage chamber, is the period with the greatest impact on the fruits’ useful life.

Keywords: fruit packaging box; thermal performance; experimental study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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